The last blog post before the semester ends is a chance for you to reflect upon your internship experience. Think about what you’ve done on the job and address the following questions:

There are a few important questions to ponder when you are finished with an internship: Is this a company, or type of company for which you could see yourself working full time? Would you like pursue a full time opportunity that is similar to your internship? Do you anticipate continuing in this field or do you feel that you may choose some other type of career path. Alternatively, if you have had a negative or discouraging experience, have you decided that this is career path that no longer wish to pursue? Do you feel that you are still interested in the field even if you would like to pursue a different type of position within that industry? Be as specific as possible in your response.

What is the single most important thing – good or bad – that you learned from this experience?

Were you able network as much as you had anticipated? If not, why not? Did you get a chance to learn about the industry and what types of jobs are available in it? Did you meet anyone with whom you feel you will be able to stay in touch?

Is this an internship, company or industry that you would recommend to your fellow Queens College Media Studies Students?

Feel free to add other thoughts, information or experiences you have that might not be specifically covered by the above questions.

Once again, please feel free to respond upon each other’s posts and provide insight and feedback.

Please post your answers in the comments section that follows this prompt.

This past semester at Full Frontal with Samantha Bee has really been incredible. It has been so exciting to be part of such an innovative, politically charged show during this election cycle, and to be with show as it grew into it’s voice. The cherry on top was that the people at Full Frontal are so kind and generous with their knowledge, always offering to show us something, or give us extra experience. They take education very seriously at Full Frontal, and gave us a checklist of experiences (like sitting in on a joke meeting, going on a shoot, etc.) that we should expect and ask to get out of the internship. Through the checklist I learned a lot more about the different jobs on the show, and the importance of a cohesive team. I could definitely see myself working full time at Full Frontal, but I think I would want a job working full time at Jax Media. Jax Media is the production company that produces Full Frontal and other comedy shows, Inside Amy Schumer, Broad City, Difficult People, Younger, and many other New York-produced comedies. Half the people at Full Frontal work for Jax (the executive producer Tony Hernandez is the CEO of Jax), and I really admire the company’s work, and the way they take care of the people that work hard for the). They also do a lot of scripted shows, and I am interested in scripted TV. However, I am still unsure of what I want to do in TV. I know I want to be both creative and business oriented, and that every TV show is different, so I am focusing on trying to become a PA next year and working my way up from there. Of course, easier said then done, but I think I have made some really great contacts on this job. In particular, I work very closely with the chief producer of post-production, and she has served as a mentor for me during the my time there. She started in the industry as an intern, and she has been extremely generous in bringing me into editing meetings to learn more about the process. She is somebody for whom I want to stay in touch. Additionally, I think the PAs and the Production Coordinator like me, as I often take initiative in getting the little petty tasks done. They invited all the interns to the holiday party, so I take that as a good sign! I am looking forward to using that as an opportunity to network. I don’t know if there is one singular important thing that I learned (I learned many things), but I think I overall got to observe the creative process and how an idea becomes a segment on the show. I would totally recommend this internship to somebody at QC, it is such a great learning opportunity, and you get to be apart of an awesome show.

2.
Edward Vega | December 2nd, 2016 at 3:43 am

I have really enjoyed my time working at Inside Edition.

In the beginning I was a bit trepedacious about working here, because I had never really been interested in working anywhere related to news. Before this internship my plan was always to work with either film or tv, in their mostly fictional, not necessarily educational forms. The reason for this is because my favorite thing to do was, and still is, to just enjoy the storytelling of film and TV, and to pick apart all the creative cinematography, editing, and lighting choices. If I’m being completely honest, I’d always found film and TV to be extremely exciting, and I thought the idea of working in the news would just be really boring and/or depressing with all of the terrible things that happen in the world.

Probably the most important thing that I learned at Inside Edition however, is that I was completely wrong. In fact, working in the news has been just as exciting, if not more exciting than the internships that I’ve done in the past that were related to TV. While stories for stories sake are important and exciting, stories for the sake of news have a different kind of excitement. There’s a pressure to try and get exclusive interviews or news stories, and a pressure to meet deadlines for live shows that are so close you only have seconds to spare before sending it over to the control room; and then you have the unpredictable news that causes everyone to stay an hour later to figure out a way to include it in our last possible timeslot to make sure our news always stays current. The truth is, for all of the unpredictable craziness of TV and Film, the unpredictable nature of the real world is far more exciting, especially when you need to sit down try to turn it into an easily digestible news package thats sent out to every state in America.

If I were to be offered a job here, I would accept it without a doubt.

Another thing that I realized about the news is that unlike every other job in the media field, the news is incredibly stable. There’s never a summer or winter hiatus, and there’s almost never the threat of cancelation. Along with that, Inside Edition keeps one of the most reasonable work schedules that any news program can offer at 9-5. And more importantly than all of that, almost all of the people that work at there are the friendliest, most hard working people I’ve ever met.

Luckily, I had an opportunity to really move around the different departments, mingling and helping out a lot of different people. It’s a great feeling to be walking down the hall, or sitting at my desk and have people say hello to me by name…especially when they only say hi to my fellow interns without stating their name.

More than that, it’s a great feeling to just be able to learn as much as possible as many people have taken time out from their day to help me learn certain skills, so that in turn, I can help them and other people around the office later on. Not only do I learn a skill, but I build a bond with that person. It makes me look good both to that person, and to anyone else I can show off my new skill to. But by far the best feeling is having people believe that I’m good enough to refer to other people.
After talking about how I had gotten phone interviews at CNN, one of the editors that I’ve spent a good amount of hands on time with gave me 4 names of different contacts that he had at CNN, from when he worked there. He suggested I introduce myself to them, tell them that I know him, and that they would treat me really well. This, to me, seems like the biggest compliment anyone could give me. It meant that, not only had this man taken the time to get to know me, he also seemed to like me, recognize my hardworking nature, and do whatever small part he could to help me do a little better in my future endeavors. It’s not something I took lightly, because I doubt its something he does often.

Another editor who I’ve spent a lot of time observing and talking to, and who has spent a lot of time allowing me edit my own pieces during his lunch break, clued me into to an interesting fact about the future of the news industry. It seems that the upcoming job is a Preditor, or a person who serves as both a producer and an editor for different stories.

No matter if its recommendations of people to meet, or small nuggets of wisdom that can help me put an edge on my career like this one, I’m better off in the pursuit of a future career because I networked, and because I’ve gotten the opportunity to do some good, hands on work at this internship.

And because of that, I’m hoping to stay in touch with as many of the people that I’ve met as I can. Luckily, I have a friend that I met at Queens College who works there, and I’ve made pretty good friends with a few other people around my age who are working in various departments around the office. I’ll probably stay in touch with these people the most, and with any luck, they can alert me to any possible job openings. I’ve also made pretty good friends with my intern coordinator, who I am definitely going to maintain a correspondence with. As for the people who are already working in the departments I’d like to work in, I’m going to try and keep in contact with them, but it may be a bit difficult because of the age differences. My goal would probably be to at least add them on facebook so I can keep in touch with comments on posts and photos, and perhaps a few personal messages here and there.

I would definitely recommend this internship to anybody at Queens College with an interest in media and/or journalism. In fact, I’m in the process of hopefully suggesting a friend of mine for an internship for the spring semester. With an internship as hands on as this one, I’ve gained a lot of great experiences that will help me do a lot better in my future career. The least I can do is hopefully pass on somebody elses name so that they too can be better prepared for their future.

Interning with Madison Square Garden has been amazing this Fall. I’ve had the opportunity to speak with people I’ve seen on TV and known about my whole life. Being face to face with people within the company and especially people within the New York Knicks organization is something I still get goosebumps thinking about. My goal has always been to work for the Garden and with the Knicks so this internship has given me a front row seat in seeing what it would actually be like.

With that being said I could see myself working full time. I would like to peruse a full time opportunity in marketing and/Or fan development. Getting a chance to speak to different people I learned a lot about the different departments. I realized that I would like to work in the marketing or fan development field. I see myself being hands on with the community working on building the Knicks brand and continuing to develop an already significant fan base.

Fortunately, I have not had a negative or discouraging experience in this internship.

The single most important thing I’ve learned from this experience is the listen and soak up all the information you could get. I’ve been around people who are very knowledgeable in the media and sports industry so I just take mental notes of everything I learn and hear.

I was able to network more than I had anticipated. Everyday I meet someone from a different department and when I can I pick their brains on their department and ask questions about their jobs.

I met people I will definitely keep in touch with. My supervisor encouraged me to build relationships with as much people as possible when I started. So far I have a few contacts that I will reach out too when the internship is done.